Corporate Knowledge: February 21, 2012

Should weighing the San Antonio Spurs current iteration against past glory diminish the joy fans get from watching Spurs basketball? That’s a question posed by Carles over at Grantland.”Does anyone really think the Spurs will win a playoff series? They were the no. 1 seed in last year’s playoffs. They could be the no. 1 seed this year. This, in itself, is impressive, but when your benchmark is winning championships, what could be worse than a team that plays well in the regular season and then inevitably flames out in the playoffs to a much younger and cooler team?”Personally, I think there are a lot worse fates than a former championship team that is still relevant even if its former glory is not longer attainable. Watching these Spurs and realizing their limitations is more akin to realizing your parents are mortal and fallible than watching grandparents in a nursing home quickly losing their faculties (for that, it would seem, you could tune in to a Boston Celtics game).

I’m not going to fault James Anderson, or his agent, for making a trade request. While some will question the timing of the request and bring up the greater good of the team, this is still a young man that has to watch out for his career. The NBA, after all, is a business.The Spurs are deep on the wings with the development of Danny Green. And perhaps Anderson has a higher ceiling, perhaps not, but Green has always been a glue guy, capable of contributing with fewer opportunities. Anderson, for all his potential, was a big time scorer that benefited from plenty of opportunities in college and was never likely to see a similar role with the Spurs.

Scott Schroeder of ridiculous upside weights in on the Austin Toros and the Spurs calling up Eric Dawson:

“Dawson wasn’t a name coming out of college, he didn’t have prior NBA experience to catch the eye of NBA talent evaluators and he’s not some extremely athletic 7-footer that makes everyone’s jaw drop when he steps on the floor. He simply continued to refine his game while playing against solid competition, developing it to the point that the Spurs saw him as a suitable replacement when Splitter went down due to injury.”

There have been a lot of suprising players this season that have emerged simply because opportunities finally presented themselves in this crazy season. All of which have been overshadowed by Jeremy Lin. But ESPN’s John Hollinger has taken note, and he includes Danny Green on his Jeremy Lin All-Star team:

Danny Green, San Antonio: Green spent two years wandering the NBA desert, including being cut by the Cavs and Spurs. On Sunday, he spent the entire fourth quarter and overtime guarding Chris Paul in one of the biggest games of the week. Taking advantage of an opening created by Manu Ginobili’s injury, Green has used his defense, rebounding ability and 3-point shot to bull his way into the starting lineup and establish himself as a keeper. His development, in turn, is one of many reasons the Spurs are riding a league-best 11-game winning streak even with Ginobili barely participating.

Westbrook isn’t playing that bad. The problem is they have no backup, losing Maynor. They also have no front court post game. That’s their biggest issue in the post season. This is a big reason why Spurs can matchup very well with them. Perkins is good for D, but not for O. So is Ibaka.

JustinFL

I would love to play them in the WC Finals. We match up well with them. The strategy to beating them is just to let Westbrick score. Give him a couple feet to hoist up and drive to the basket. As long as he is looking for his shot and not passing the ball they’re beatable.

JustinFL

There’s still the chance the FO can sit down with Anderson and talk him into staying. Mainly because he is such an unknown commodity to GM’s that it might be hard to move him without packaging other players. The only 2 players I can assume they would try and package him with is Blair and Jefferson. Everyone, including Blair and Jefferson, fulfill certain roles for the team and it’s not the Spurs’ MO to rock the boat too hard during the season. Best thing to do if the team doesn’t want him here is to wait until the offseason where they’re not under as much pressure and can work their magic.
Unless New Orleans wants to do us a solid and trade us Kaman. Which again, would require packaging.

Bob

Why not start a losing streak to kill all momentum?

theghostofjh

No, Westbrook not playing like a point guard is what will hold them back from the finals, and from winning it all. With all the talent & athleticism on that team, and having one of the absolute best scorers in the game, you cannot have a point guard that is averaging 5.5 apg. (35 mpg.), and an assist to turnover ratio of 1.2, 46th and LAST among point guards in the entire NBA (Parker is 4th best, at 3.14). Since OKC plays up-tempo, if Westbrook was more in the middle of the pack (around 2.3 or 2.4), that would probably be okay. But having almost as many turnovers as assists is entirely unacceptable, and will undoubtedly foil OKC’s chances to win it all.

one of the reasons why no top tier free agents join spurs these years in my memory is that spurs is simply not a desirable place for superstars. we dont have what it takes to get them. or rather most superstars dont have the right mentality and bball iq to join spurs and pop system. dont put high hopes in it.

Bentley

Yeah thats what I’m saying. Even though we didnt play our starters and the loss was expected, its embarrassing for any team to get blown out by 40. We were torched and bullied inside as well as on the perimeter all night long, and it was just a disappointing performance because prior to this game all the young guys had been playing so well. Although Kawhi is the caveat, dude can flat out ball.

As far as Anderson, he was aggressive in attacking the basket, but it just looked like he was trying to do too much and the defense seemed to use his overaggressiveness against him when he would take the ball to the basket. I felt that James Anderson’s ceiling was pretty high, but I’m starting to think he can’t fully realize that potential on this team as currently constructed

Lvmainman

Can this Dawson play? The Spurs need a 5th big to win in the playoffs. The Mavs have Yi Jianlian, Nuggets have birdman, Thunder have Aldrich, can’t the Spurs find anyone decent?

No way the Spurs don’t get treated like Memphis last year, come playoff time vs teams with big men.

grego

Parker didn’t always have this passing game or that assist to turnover ratio. This is only in the last few years.

STIJL

For the sake of what you just pointed out lets not only hope he can play but that he can play well. Or in the very least…not be so weak in a category that it nullifies whatever good he brings on the court.

Bob

George Hill had a wide open 3 at a crucial point in game 6 he airballed I think cause of lack of confidence. I think Gary Neal would have hit it.

theghostofjh

Dawson is not a 5th big that we can count on to make a net positive contribution in the playoffs. Forget about it. We do need to add to the front court, but nobody seems to have any idea what Pop & Co. have in mind. They never seem to be too aggressive about filling this perceived need. This goes all the way back to the last couple of years.

theghostofjh

Sure, but he NEVER had as poor of an assist to turnover ratio as Westbrook. Not even close (Westbrook just plays “too” out of control). Back in 2005 when Parker was around Westbrook’s age, his assist to turnover was 2.3 (not that great, but almost twice as good as Westbrook’s), and he averaged more assists per game (6.1 vs. 5.5) on a team that was a slow, half-court, defensive-oriented team, compared to the 2012 up-tempo Thunder, where baskets come a bit easier at both ends, and apg. as a result should be higher.

As a matter of fact, if Maynor hadn’t gone down, the Thunder might as well start Harden at the point and move Westbrook to the SG (if Westbrook refuses to work at being an effective “point guard”, which would probably be a better solution). Harden would get Ibaka and Perkins more involved for easy opportunities on the offensive end (his inclination is to play-make as much as score, and he’s pretty good at it). This would make them a more balanced, deadly team that would be better equipped to compete at the highest level.